| Public Release Date: May 19, 1995 | No. 95-23 |
The Office of the Legislative Auditor has conducted a special review of two issues concerning Mr. Gary Grefenberg, the executive secretary of the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board. We conducted the review in response to requests from former Lieutenant Governor Joanell Dyrstad and current Lieutenant Governor Joanne Benson. By law, the Lieutenant Governor serves as the chair of the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board.
Our objectives were to answer two questions regarding Mr. Grefenberg's actions:
This report represents the results of our review.
We found that Mr. Grefenberg did not comply with state laws and policies concerning the use of travel benefits he received as a state employee. He used frequent flyer mileage, all or in part earned by state travel, for personal benefit. Mr. Grefenberg obtained personal benefits from his state travel primarily from frequent flyer benefits.
We also looked for other possible benefits that Mr. Grefenberg might have derived from state travel including hotel accommodations, higher coach fares, and extending days in travel status for personal reasons. We were unable to determine if Mr. Grefenberg received any additional benefits through any of these means.
We did not find any evidence of financial improprieties relating to the Minnesota Vietnam Veterans Memorial project. We found no evidence that Mr. Grefenberg maintained a second set of financial records for the project.
